Synopses & Reviews
andlt;iandgt;To be the child of a compulsive hoarder is to live in a permanent state of unease. Because if my mother is one of those crazy junk-house people, then what does that make me?andlt;/iandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;When her divorced mother was diagnosed with cancer, New York City writer Jessie Sholl returned to her hometown of Minneapolis to help her prepare for her upcoming surgery and get her affairs in order. While a daunting task for any adult dealing with an aging parent, itand#8217;s compounded for Sholl by one lifelong, complex, and confounding truth: her mother is a compulsive hoarder. andlt;iandgt;Dirty Secretandlt;/iandgt; is a daughterand#8217;s powerful memoir of confronting her motherand#8217;s disorder, of searching for the normalcy that was never hers as a child, and, finally, cleaning out the clutter of her motherand#8217;s home in the hopes of salvaging the true heart of their relationshipand#8212;before itand#8217;s too late.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Growing up, young Jessie knew her mother wasnand#8217;t like other mothers: chronically disorganized, she might forgo picking Jessie up from kindergarten to spend the afternoon thrift store shopping. Now, tracing the downward spiral in her motherand#8217;s hoarding behavior to the death of a long-time boyfriend, she bravely wades into a pathological sea of stuff: broken appliances, moldy cowboy boots, twenty identical pairs of graying bargain-bin sneakers, abandoned arts and crafts, newspapers, magazines, a dresser drawer crammed with discarded eyeglasses, shovelfuls of junk mail . . . the things that become a hoarderand#8217;s and#8220;treasures.and#8221; With candor, wit, and not a drop of sentimentality, Jessie Sholl explores the many personal and psychological ramifications of hoarding while telling an unforgettable mother-daughter tale.
Review
"Sholl explores the psychological reasons why being merely a pack rat can erupt into full-blown hoarding. By the end you're sympathetic to both mother and daughter and understand how a parent's obsession can become a child's." andlt;BRandgt; -- andlt;Iandgt;Peopleandlt;/Iandgt; magazine, 3.5 stars (out of 4)
Review
"With her bold prose and ceaseless courage, Jessie Sholl tells a mother-daughter story like no other. Get ready for a visceral read: just a few pages in to DIRTY SECRET, you'll be scratching your ankles, dabbling your eyes, and -- when you're finished -- frantically cleaning your house."andlt;BRandgt; - Stephanie Elizondo Griest, author of "Around the Bloc" and "Mexican Enough"
Review
"Mining a story of damage inflicted and damage sustained, Jessie Sholl conjures a narrative of surprising interconnectedness, even uplift. Wry and illuminating, andlt;iandgt;Dirty Secretandlt;/iandgt; is an empathic and insightful memoir."andlt;BRandgt; --Dave King, author of THE HA-HA
Review
"When a grown child tells the story of a troubled parent, three things are needed: exacting detail, unflinching honesty, and - most of all - unconditional love. Jessie Sholl's "Dirty Secret" beautifully contains them all."andlt;BRandgt; - Dan Koeppel, author of "To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, A Son, and A Lifelong Obsession"
Review
"Suspenseful and novel-like, andlt;iandgt;Dirty Secretandlt;/iandgt; is a wonderful, respectful introduction to the world of a hoarder and the tribulations suffered by both the individual who hoards and their family members." andlt;BRandgt; -- Fugen Neziroglu, Ph.D. author of andlt;iandgt;Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save and How You Can Stopandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"From a literal mess of a childhood, Sholl has emerged to tell a compelling and sparkling-clean story that will captivate anyone who has ever tried to let go of the past."andlt;BRandgt; -Elisabeth Eaves, author of "Bare" and Wanderlust"
Review
"Sholl coaxes tragicomic elements from the depressing proceedingsand#8212;as when everyone contracted a seemingly incurable case of scabies, courtesy of her motherand#8217;s hellhole, or the time she discovered the cremated remains of her motherand#8217;s longtime boyfriend buried under a pile of yarn, two lava lamps and a stack of old newspapers. Most poignant, though, is the secret shame and embarrassment of her motherand#8217;s strangeness that Sholl lugged around for so many years. Eventually, she found sympathy and understanding... Affecting and illuminating."andlt;BRandgt; - andlt;iandgt;Kirkus Reviewsandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"[Sholl] offers a compelling and compassionate perspective on an illness suffered by an estimated six million Americans that has only recently been explored through reality television programs."andlt;BRandgt; - andlt;Iandgt;Booklistandlt;/Iandgt;
Synopsis
A fascinating look at compulsive hoarding by a woman whose mother suffers from the disease.
Synopsis
A fascinating look at compulsive hoarding by a woman whose mother suffers from the disease.
To be the child of a compulsive hoarder is to live in a permanent state of unease. Because if my mother is one of those crazy junk-house people, then what does that make me?
When her divorced mother was diagnosed with cancer, New York City writer Jessie Sholl returned to her hometown of Minneapolis to help her prepare for her upcoming surgery and get her affairs in order. While a daunting task for any adult dealing with an aging parent, it's compounded for Sholl by one lifelong, complex, and confounding truth: her mother is a compulsive hoarder. Dirty Secret is a daughter's powerful memoir of confronting her mother's disorder, of searching for the normalcy that was never hers as a child, and, finally, cleaning out the clutter of her mother's home in the hopes of salvaging the true heart of their relationship--before it's too late.
Growing up, young Jessie knew her mother wasn't like other mothers: chronically disorganized, she might forgo picking Jessie up from kindergarten to spend the afternoon thrift store shopping. Now, tracing the downward spiral in her mother's hoarding behavior to the death of a long-time boyfriend, she bravely wades into a pathological sea of stuff: broken appliances, moldy cowboy boots, twenty identical pairs of graying bargain-bin sneakers, abandoned arts and crafts, newspapers, magazines, a dresser drawer crammed with discarded eyeglasses, shovelfuls of junk mail . . . the things that become a hoarder's "treasures." With candor, wit, and not a drop of sentimentality, Jessie Sholl explores the many personal and psychological ramifications of hoarding while telling an unforgettable mother-daughter tale.
Synopsis
Kimberley Rae Miller writes powerfully about her fathers compulsive hoarding and the dysfunctional household she grew up in, including the idyllic Long Island home that no one would have guessed was a rat-infested wasteland of garbage, lacking heat or running water.
Synopsis
Kimberly Rae Miller is an immaculately put-together woman with a great career, a loving boyfriend, and a beautifully tidy apartment in Brooklyn. You would never guess that behind the closed doors of her familys idyllic Long Island house hid teetering stacks of aging newspaper, broken computers, and boxes upon boxes of unused junk festering in every room — the product of her fathers painful and unending struggle with hoarding.
In this dazzling memoir, Miller brings to life her experience growing up in a rat-infested home, hiding her fathers shameful secret from friends for years, and the emotional burden that ultimately led to her suicide attempt. In beautiful prose, Miller sheds light on her complicated yet loving relationship with her parents, which has thrived in spite of the odds.
Coming Clean is a story about recognizing where you come from and understanding the relationships that define you. It is also a powerful story of recovery and redemption.
Synopsis
A memoir of family, love, healing, and the beautiful disorder that binds mothers and daughters together
Judy Batalion grew up in a house filled with endless piles of junk and layers of crumbs and dust; suffocated by tuna fish cans, old papers and magazines, swivel chairs, tea bags, clocks, cameras, printers, VHS tapes, ballpoint pens
obsessively gathered and stored by her hoarder mother. The first chance she had, she escaped the clutter to create a new identityone made of order, regimen, and clean white walls. Until, one day, she found herself enmeshed in lifes biggest chaos: motherhood.
Confronted with the daunting task of raising a daughter after her own dysfunctional childhood, Judy reflected on not only her own upbringing but the lives of her mother and grandmother, Jewish Polish immigrants who had escaped the Holocaust. What she discovered astonished her. The women in her family, despite their differences, were even more closely connected than she ever knewfrom her grandmother Zelda to her daughter of the same name. And, despite the hardships of her own mother-daughter relationship, it was that bond that was slowly healing her old wounds.
Told with heartbreaking honesty and humor, this is Judys poignant account of her trials negotiating the messiness of motherhood and the indelible marks that mothers and daughters make on each others lives.
About the Author
Jessie Sholl is a freelance writer and editor. Her essays and stories have appeared in
The New York Times (including Modern Love),
Other Voices,
Fiction,
Lit, and the forthcoming anthology
Be Thrifty, and she’s the co-editor of the literary non-fiction anthology
Travelers’ Tales Prague and the Czech Republic (Travelers’ Tales Press, February 2006). She is a frequent contributor to EverydayHealth.com, where she has written about topics ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to psoriatic arthritis and interviewed celebrities including Olivia Newton-John and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Jessie has been awarded residencies to The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow and Ragdale; she holds an MFA from The New School University, where she currently teaches creative writing.